Common Council Finance Committee recommends $250,000 for Strong Homes Loan Program

The Common Council’s Finance and Personnel Committee on September 16 recommended for approval a resolution appropriating $250,000 in unused prior-year Department of City Development funds for the city’s STRONG Homes Loan Program.

The resolution will go to the full Common Council on Tuesday, September 22.

The additional funds would allow the program to service all qualified applicants already in process with the program as well as a few existing applications that were held due to the program’s over subscription.

The program was funded at the level of $500,000 in the 2015 city executive budget as part of the In Rem Property Program of the Department of City Development’s capital budget. A successful budget amendment offered by Alderman Bauman added an additional $500,000 to the program, but the demand has been very strong and the program has exhausted the entire available funding as homeowners across the city have accessed it to make repairs to their homes.